Calla Lilies
by Soundless Reverie
Summary: A bunch of calla lilies in hand, Sakuma led the way in the ascent up the hill, with Genda right behind him. Genda x Sakuma oneshot. Request from Anon on Tumblr. Please read and review.


**Is taking a request from Anon on Tumblr, to write a Genda/Sakuma oneshot. Was in a strange mood these days and came up with this. I don't own Inazuma Eleven or any of its characters. Please read and review~ Thanks~**

A bunch of calla lilies in hand, Sakuma led the way in the ascent up the hill, with Genda right behind him.

"You're sure where it is?" Genda murmured.

"Yes." Sakuma replied quietly, unconsciously clutching the lilies tighter. His heart grew heavier with each step, a strange mix of dread, grief and fear coiling in his stomach. Those feelings leapt up to his throat when he reached the top of the hill, where a small, white marble temple stood alone.

Swallowing, Sakuma entered the temple courtyard.

"Here?" Genda asked simply.

"Here." Turning, Sakuma entered one of the doorways, greeted by rows and rows of mossy marble gravestones etched with dates and names. Walking down the narrow stone path, Sakuma found the grave he was looking for.

The two stood side by side in front of the slab of marble that held the ashes of Kageyama Reiji.

"Kageyama… Sousei…" Sakuma whispered, falling to his knees on the stone path. He raised a trembling hand, trailing it over the smooth surface of the marble. Carved into the white stone were the words:

_Kageyama Reiji_

_1950-2011_

Below the neat carvings was a black and white photo of Teikoku's former coach, with that sly, crooked smile lingering on his lips.

Sakuma wished that they'd used a better photo for this, but he supposed that it was the best they could find.

"I wish they used a photo of him with a real smile," Genda said quietly.

Sakuam just nodded, unable to find his voice. Memories of his Commander flooded back to him from the back of his mind. He couldn't stop them. He just simply couldn't.

"_Hiiiiyaaaa!" Ten-year-old Sakuma yelled, kicking the soccer ball into the goal. He sighed when the ball missed entirely, bouncing off the frame of the goal rolling back to his feet._

_ Panting hard, Sakuma pushed his long hair from his eyes. Ever since his right eye had lost its sight, he couldn't aim easily for the goal. He was so terribly miserable at it that his teammates had mocked him and his classmates laughed at him about it, and his coach even kicked him off the school team._

_ "Hey." A voice came from behind him._

_ "Huh?" Sakuma turned around, to find a tall, square-jawed man, with dark-coloured long hiar tied into a ponytail, swept over one shoulder._

_ "You only see in one eye, don't you, Sakuma-kun?" The man said bluntly._

_ "Who are you?" Sakuma demanded, shaking his head so his overgrown bangs would cover his sightless right eye. He'd never saw this person around Teikoku Elementary, and he wasn't sure that he was a teacher._

_ "My name," the man said, "is Kageyama Reiji. I am the Junior High section's soccer coach."_

_ "Junior High's soccer coach?"_

_ Kageyama nodded. "And I'd like to help you."_

_ "Help me?" Sakuma gave a half-smile, before turning away. "I'm blind in one eye. I can't aim properly. People bully me. I'm a useless player. You can't do anything to change that."_

_ "I can."_

_ "You can?"_

_ "Yes." Kageyama said, smiling at him. "I see that you have potential in soccer. You're just lacking confidence."_

_ Stunned, Sakuma looked up to the taller man. "Kageyama-san – "_

_ "Call me Sousei."_

_ "So-Sousei…"_

_ "Very good. Now wear this." Kageyama said, handing him a piece of fabric._

_ Sakuma curiously took it from his huge hands and held it up. It was an eye patch. He slipped it around his head and pulled it over his sightless eye. "Uh… so what now?" he said._

_ Kageyama gave him a crooked smile, and produced a mirror out of nowhere, showing him his reflection. Sakuma stared at himself in slight wonder. He looked… better. With his blank, unseeing orange eye covered, he looked a lot better. Brushing his bangs from his face, he found that he looked… more like his former cheery self, save for the eye patch. He couldn't help but give a small confident smile at his reflection._

_ "See?" the man said._

_ "I see," Sakuma replied._

_ "So. I want to see you shoot again. Try to concentrate harder."_

_ Narrowing his eye, Sakuma returned to the front of the goal, concentrating harder than ever as instructed. _I can do this,_ he told himself. _I can still play soccer with just one eye. I'll show them._ Taking a deep breath, he channeled all the strength he had into the kick, sending it flying into the net easily as he did before that fateful accident._

_ There was clapping behind him. It was Kageyama._

_ "Well. You still have it in you," the coach said. "And you're pretty good, I have to say."_

_ Sakuma brightened at his comment._

_ "I'd very much like to train you when you graduate to the Junior High section of Teikoku," Kageyama said, nodding approvingly. "Keep it up. I'll be waiting." With that, the man swept from the field, leaving Sakuma excited._

_ From that day on, he kept that eye patch, and he trained hard everyday. His self-esteem was back, thanks to Kageyama._

"Sousei…" Sakuma whispered. "I… really want to thank you… for everything… if it weren't for you… I would've abandoned soccer… I'd never have met Kidou, or Genda, or even Fudou… they're all good friends to me… If it weren't for you… I wouldn't be here, at the top of the world… I wouldn't have met so many good teammates… E-even th-though y-you…" the words caught in his throat, constricting his airway. Hot tears crept from his left eye, spilling over his lashes and rolling down his face.

Genda at his side in an instant, pulling him into his arms while he sobbed. The brunette goalkeeper's head was bowed too.

They broke free from each other, and Genda was squatting in front of the gravestone, and arm still over Sakuma's shoulder.

"Sousei… you taught me so much..." Genda murmured. "Even though you'd only thought about winning, I'm glad… you finally understand soccer's true fun… Thank you, Sousei…"

Together, they laid the calla lilies at the foot of the slab of marble. Clinging on to Genda, Sakuma continued to weep. Those tears he'd held in for so long… he didn't shed a single one when the news of Kageyama's death greeted him, nor did he let one single to escape when Kidou mourned their Commander's death.

Finally, his breathing was ragged, and his eyes were uncomfortably dry, but he felt a bit better, as though part of his grief was shed through his tears.

They both stood in silence at the peaceful scene before them. The delicate white petals of the calla lilies over marble.

"Rest in peace, Sousei," Genda said quietly. "We'll always remember you."

Those words brought tears to Sakuma once more, and Genda held him close as he sobbed into the fourteen-year-old's shirt.

"Sousei… Arigatou…"

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Genda and Sakuma made their annual route up the small hill, and into the temple graveyard, to Kageyama Reiji's spot, holding hands.

Smiling sadly, Sakuma placed a fresh bouquet of calla lilies at the marble base of the grave.

"Sousei," he began. "I've become Teikoku's coach, along with Kidou. The Fifth Sector's controlling soccer, since quite a few months ago, and we're having a Resistance to stop it. We're going to bring real soccer back. And," he added. "I'm engaged to Genda Koujirou," he said.

Genda flashed him a grin, before turning to the gravestone. "Sousei. I'll take good care of Sakuma Jirou. So don't worry and enjoy soccer up there, okay?"

The gravestone gave no reply, but Sakuma knew, for some reason, that Kageyama was watching over them, somehow, and he was happy for them, and he hoped for soccer to break free from the Fifth Sector's control, so everyone could enjoy real soccer, just as he'd realized before he died.

**There. Please review! Your comments mean a lot to me and helps me to improve! Thankies~ By the way, I DID make up Kageyama's birth year. Since there was no mention of his age, I just assumed that he's 60 when he died… Kay whatever it kinda makes sense, if he started to be Teikoku's coach when he was 20, and had 40 consecutive years of reign over their sakka club… then he went to Italy and then died when he was 61 due to Garshield's planned car crash blah blah blah… yeah.**

**Okay. I'll stop my rant. Remember to review~ Until next time!**

**For more information, feel free to visit my tumblr page: bookworm868(.)tumblr(.)com! Just take out the brakets! Thanks!**


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